The Winter Olympic Virus, Day 2

• According to the official website, seven sets of medals to be given out today.
• But we'll see about that after yesterday's cancellation of final training in the men's downhill.  If conditions do not improve, expect a postponement.
• True to form, postponed.  If what I've seen the last two days is any indication, the Alpine program could be a real problem in Beijing.
• One of the further criticisms of Friday's Opening Ceremonies is the attempt to "greenwash" the movement -- state they are environmentally friendly, with no intention to follow through.
• In a scary development to that end, the fact that the Games are going to be the first to rely completely on man-made snow has caused a groundwater shortage in the Beijing area.
• Germany, already disqualified from the free-skate portion of the team event because of COVID limiting the team to having no pair team for the short program, showed up for the final short program portion (the women's) of the team event holding a giant...  pretzel...  Oooo...  keee....   
• After that women's short skate, the bottom five of the ten teams will be eliminated, and a second session will start the free skates with the men.
• After five segments, it's the illegal Russian team's to lose, as they are up three placement points with two of the remaining three segments their best, in which they are expected to sweep the women's medals and go 1-2 in pairs.
• Shaun White, to no one's surprise, has announced these Olympics will be his last competition.  Gee, needed some NBC/sponsor money there, kid?   
• And if this is any indication, hoo boy:  The Opening Ceremonies drew a record-low viewership of only 16 million viewers (14 million television, 2 million streaming) on Friday for NBC, a 40%+ drop from even Pyeongchang.  Even Nagano for CBS at just over 20 million (the previous low) was still a full 20% higher.  And with the USA slated to do poorly in the gold medal count, I don't see this improving.
• Thursday's Olympic coverage on NBC primetime drew about 7.7 million.
• I wonder if this has hit the Olympic Village:  McDonalds has a worldwide french-fry shortage, so several countries have had to stop serving them!
• First medals of the day are out -- and the first USA medal as well.  The Snowboard Slopestyle competition for the women is completed and USA wins silver with Julia Marino, bracketed by two Australasians, New Zealand's Zoi Sadowski-Synnott being the gold medalist, winning by a mile with a triumphant final run.  Sadowski-Synnott is the first New Zealand Winter Olympic gold medalist in history.
• The Australian mixed-doubles curling team has almost had to forfeit the remainder of the competition due to the male half of the team contracting COVID.  They are continuing to compete under close-contact rules.

Inside the Games from early in Day 2:

• Xi and Putin are using the Games as a means to hold a summit between the two world powers.
• A Dutch television host was roughed up by Chinese security officials when he apparently strayed out of bounds while covering the Opening Ceremony.
• The IOC has condemned the move, and hopes it's a "one-off" by an "overzealous" security person.
• Guy Drut, a longtime member of the IOC, has called for France to move the remains of the founder of the modern Games, Pierre de Coubertin, to a place of honor in the Paris Pantheon.
• Six Russian women's hockey players were out due to COVID considerations for their opener.
• As part of the corporate nature of the Games, Samsung will give every athlete a commemorative portable phone.  No word on whether it will contain Chinese spyware.   
• It is, however, being noted that much of the sponsor activity early in these Games has been muted.
• There is some claim the beginning of Games may signal a downturn in COVID cases, as only 45 cases were found in the Olympic circle on Friday.

Medal Count:

• USA picks up a second freestyle skiing medal, but is pipped out of the gold again at the end, this time by an Australian.
• The illegal Russian team has the top total at five, while Norway and Sweden top the table with two golds each.